What Foxglove does well
- Visualizing and debugging robot data: plots, 3D, images, logs
- Recording and replaying data (MCAP and ROS bags)
- Team workflows for engineers, from the lab to the field
If that's your need, Foxglove is a strong choice, and Styri doesn't try to replace it.
Where an operator panel fits better
| Foxglove | Styri | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Engineers: data visualization and log analysis | Operators running robots on site |
| Runs in | Desktop app on each machine | Any browser on the robot’s local network |
| Offline use | Free and Pro: account sign-in needs internet. Fully offline via standalone license or on-prem deployment on Enterprise | Fully offline on every tier, including free |
| Install | Desktop install + offline license activation | One docker run on the robot or any Linux box on its network |
| Source | Proprietary | Open-source core |
Foxglove facts checked October 2026 against Foxglove's documentation and pricing pages; check their site for current plans.
When to use which
- Use Foxglove when engineers need to dig into data, replay runs or debug behavior.
- Use Styri when someone on the floor needs to know right now whether a robot is okay, on a site network that may have no internet, from a tablet or wall screen.
- Use both: Foxglove in the lab, Styri on the floor. They read the same ROS 2 topics and don't conflict.
What about other options?
- Cloud fleet platforms run fleets remotely from a web app; going fully offline usually means a self-hosted enterprise deployment.
- rosboard is a lightweight open-source topic viewer, good for engineers exploring topics.
Try Styri in one command
$ docker run --rm --network host ghcr.io/styri-dev/styri-core:v0.3.0Open http://localhost:8080. Read-only: it never publishes to your robot.